Again, I don't think that is necessary. I think the subtlety is what makes the HL2 story work, whereas other games hit you over the head with useless plots.

Read The Catcher In The Rye. Does it stop and conveniently break everything down for you? No. It just details a kid as he goes about his business. You stick with him the entire time. HL2's delivery is as close to that as a video game can get.

If there was no story, how could nerds do things like this? http://fragfiles.org/~hlstory/ incredibly detailed storyline. One that took some thinking to find, instead of just sitting there and knowing it all.